This article discusses how the early IWW used music both as an organising tool and as a means of developing a sense of community among its members. It puts these activities in the context of the politics and practical activity of the IWW during this period.

One of the main reasons for the establishment of the IWW in 1905 was a recognition that there was a need for a revolutionary labor union that could organise on a national level. The industrial tactic that the IWW promoted aimed at creating cohesion in the working class and ensuring that union organized workers would stand together and support each other when there was a strike. It was important for the IWW to organize groups of workers that others were hesitant to organize and in some cases directly hostile to, for example women, unskilled workers, unemployed workers, black workers and immigrants.
In their struggle to promote their politics, the IWW was a singing union. From 1910 to 1960 the IWW's songbook, still in print, was regarded by many workers as one of their most beloved possessions. The songbook was one of the IWW's most important documents and its songs were sung in numerous situations: around hobo campfires, in boxcars, in Wobbly halls, in the streets, on picket lines, at strike rallies, in court, on the way to jail and in jail. The songs were a crucial aid in recruiting new members, and they were important in building a sense of fellowship and in keeping spirits up in hard situations

The murder of Mike Brown at the hands of a police officer in Ferguson, MO evoked rage among the people, both in his neighborhood and across the country. The militant protests that followed were an understandable and appropriate response . . . To deal with the problem of police violence we must rebel against police occupation, build the capacity to defend ourselves as well as our neighbors, and create alternative institutions where people can turn to solve problems within our communities in a fair and healthy way.

W.E.B. Du Bois was an important African-American scholar and activist. In the 60s there was an effort to create a memorial for him in his home town in Massachusetts. This met with a great deal of right-wing resistance. The history of this controversy shines light on the broader issues of racism and Cold War anti-communism.

Students at Norman High School in Norman, Oklahoma will walk out of their classes at 9:20 A.M. on Monday, November 24th, 2014 to be greeted by hundreds of activists and supporters boldly standing with them in solidarity.

As a union committed to the abolition of patriarchy and all forms of exploitation, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) stands with these students in solidarity and will be represented at the walkout. Christophe Parsons, a delegate for the Oklahoma IWW, was part of the core group of organizers. Parsons said, "Both as a friend of the survivor and as a revolutionary unionist committed to building a new world, inaction was not an option. I am proud of my fellow students and community supporters who have rallied around these girls, and I am proud of my union, which has showed incredible solidarity and support in organizing this event." [Italiano]

In this essay, I'm trying to get the ball rolling on a longer-term discussion on the political nature of hip hop from a revolutionary anarchist perspective. I'm hoping for a broad range of responses from artists and militants, which will allow us to swap notes and build up our respective movements.

In this piece, I propose a different way that we might approach radical, revolutionary, transformative politics. I propose experimentation with new and unique political spaces—both conceptual and physical—which hold closely to a belief that another world is possible; which use that hope to build for the long-haul and on a large scale; and yet which, at the same time, hold us, nurture us, and ignite us as real people as we struggle daily, yearly, multi-generationally to get where we need to go. I propose that these spaces must go beyond the traditional organizational styles and formats that we've become used to—be they campaign organizations and coalitions, non-profits, collectives, spontaneous mobilizations, cadre groups, or revolutionary parties. Instead, I propose rethinking many of the assumed conventions and truisms of Left movements, and reaching out even more widely into society and history—even into enemy territory—for lessons and inspiration.

Liberals and progressive forces support the Democratic Party in elections, even though humanity is facing a number of interconnected threats and nightmarish catastrophes: economic, ecological/climate, and others. Democratic liberals, while perhaps the "lesser evil" to the Republican reactionaries, have no solutions to the objective dangers which threaten society with great suffering and destruction. The only real alternative is popular mass struggle or defeat--socialist-anarchism or catastrophes.

A 30 minute talk by Mark Bray, author of Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street followed by an hour of discussion. Translating Anarchy tells the story of the anti-capitalist anti-authoritarians of Occupy Wall Street who strategically communicated their revolutionary politics to the public in a way that was both accessible and revolutionary.

Saturday August 9th, a racist Ferguson police officer profiled and fatally shot a black teenager, Michael Brown, as he walked to his grandmother’s residence with a friend. He was 18 years old. Multiple witnesses told KMOV that Brown was unarmed and had his hands up in the air when he was cut down. “The officer shot again and once my friend felt that shot, he turned around and put his hands in the air,” said witness Dorian Johnson. “He started to get down and the officer still approached with his weapon drawn and fired several more shots.” The family and the community are calling his death an execution.

Presented by Art Forces, the Estria Foundation and NorCal Friends of Sabeel, the Oakland Palestine Solidarity Mural is a monumental work of public art located in Uptown Oakland on 26th Street between Telegraph and Broadway. The mural pays homage to the history of Bay Area public art and expresses solidarity with Palestinians as bombs continue to fall on Gaza.

The second volume of Mortar, Common Cause's theoretical journal, is now available online. Inside you will find an editorial introduction, along with articles covering anti-organizationalist sentiment within the North American anarchist movement, anarchism and the Welfare State, a contemporary redux of the Bourgeois Influences on Anarchism, anarchist approaches to contending with sexual assault and a critique of anti-oppression politics. We encourage feedback and responses, which can be sent to mortar@riseup.net.

We stand in solidarity with Cecily McMillan and will in the future. Cecily has been punished in order to make an example out of the Occupy movement. At the same time we must look at the bigger picture. By the end of today, another life, activist or not, will have been snuffed out by state violence. These include attacks against active militants involved in the struggle for liberation of oppressed peoples like Mumia Abu-Jamal, Maroon Shoatz and Leonard Peltier, as well as everyday people of color and undocumented migrants struggling to survive against the racist class divisions perpetuated by capitalism. There have been 239 people killed by the NYPD since Amadou Diallo in 1999, and 107 since Sean Bell in 2010; nearly all of them have been people of color. While we see that Cecily is a political prisoner, we recognize that the black and brown men and women who are systematically beaten on the street and thrown into prisons are political by default. Having historically been the most exploited of the exploited class, their well-being, survival and resistance to the widening gap between classes poses a threat to the capitalist status quo that the state seeks to insure.

Anarchism and the philosophy of pragmatism can add to each other. Pragmatism is explained as a philosophy of active experience and experimental naturalism. Pragmatism advocates radical, decentrlized democracy and industrial self-management, which is very close to anarchism. However pragmatists have often opposed reformist perspectives to revolution. The case for revolution is presented.

Our intention with this call is to create a welcoming space where we can engage in an exchange of ideas with the broader public. We call on groups and individuals from all social anarchist and anti-authoritarian tendencies to join us to help plan and build this contingent.

Picket lines have returned to Insomnia Cookies, less than two weeks after the company settled with four workers who struck in August of 2013. On Friday March 14, two dozen union members and supporters rallied in front of the Boston location of Insomnia Cookies, demanding the reinstatement with back pay of union organizer and bicycle delivery “driver,” Tasia Edmonds. On March 9 the company suspended Edmonds without pay for a month, alleging insubordination, while the union maintains she was disciplined for her union-building efforts.

This is an interesting interview with our comrade Miriam (M1 Detroit) on her history of “Industrialization” with her organization at the time the Revolutionary Socialist League. “Industrialization” was the term that the Left used to describe the strategy of getting mainly University and counter-culture youth activists to commit to point-of-production organizing in factories as part of the working-class. It was different than what is today known as “salting” – as “Industrialization” was not usually seen as a short-term stint around a specific campaign, but rather a long-term commitment to building a revolutionary presence in the class.